Keep Your Friends Closer
by Mademoiselle Nout
Summary: Severus Snape is inhis 4th year at Hogwarts. The rivalry with the Marauders has not yet culminated to its highest point, but it's getting there. Severus only seems to live for classes and his best and probably only real friend: Lily Evans.


**Title**: Keep Your Friends Closer

**Author**: Mademoiselle Nout

**Rating**: T, for safety

**Warning**: abuse, physical violence

**Spoilers**: all books

**Summary **: This story will follow Severus Snape through his 4th year at Hogwarts. The rivalry with the Marauders has not yet culminated to its highest point, but it's getting there. Severus only seems to live for classes and his best and probably only real friend: Lily Evans.

* * *

**Chapter One - An untimely departure.**

*****

It had been an unusually hot and sweltering Saturday. Most people had spent the day inside their cool houses, the windows boarded up, blocking out the heat of the sun. For the stringy young boy sitting in his bedroom this wasn't unusual, as he spent most of his spare time locked inside his bedroom. It was a small dingy room with greenish wallpaper peeling off the walls and several unidentified stains besmirching the woodblock. There was a rusty bed covered with moldy bedclothes and a rickety wooden desk placed directly beneath the one window in the room. The room seemed as if it weren't even inhabited. There were no clothes scattered in it, no books or toys littered it, nothing would allow anyone to suspect this was the room of a teenage boy.

The one object worthy of attention was a huge trunk standing beside the bedroom door, its lid open. On the left-hand side lay a pile of neatly folded clothes, with on top a black robe, adorned with a crest depicting a silver serpent; on the right-hand side lay many books, some of them piled inside a copper cauldron. Some of the books had clearly barely been touched, such as _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by a certain Newt Scamander; others, however, bore the unmistakable marks of having been perused avidly countless times: _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi____, __Intermediate Transfiguration, A _and _Confronting the Faceless____. _

The fourteen-year old boy had an unhealthy pale look about him, greatly enhanced by his shoulder-length black hair, which hung loosely around his face, making it thin and pointed. He also had a rather prominent hooked nose and beetle-black eyes. He was wearing an overlarge grey t-shirt, jeans that revealed too much ankle to be the right size for him and a pair of battered trainers. The boy was sitting on his bed, holding his wand in one hand while he was reading a decrepit-looking book with the utmost concentration. The cover looked worn and dusty, the letters emblazoned upon it were peeling, but one could just make out the title:_Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying, and Much, Much More)_ by Professor Vindictus Viridian. Severus Snape was muttering incantations under his breath, pointing his wand at a lone spider climbing the curtains of his window. The spider promptly swelled to twice its size. Another flash of light erupted from the wand, making the spider twitch and wobble uncontrollably on its many hairy legs. Severus watched it struggle for a while, his face impassive, before muttering "Stupefy." Causing a jet of red light to erupt from the tip of his wand, knocking the big spider off its legs and making it lay quite still.

He nodded approvingly, snapped the book shut and crossed his room, to peer out of his window. The streets were already darkened, only a single gas-lantern shed a yellowish glow on the small row houses. He sighed longingly, thinking of returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had been itching to do some serious magic all summer, which was forbidden to all underage wizards, although it was possible to get away with minor spells in a wizard family. It had also been an exceptionally lonely summer for Severus Snape, taking into account that his best friend had been travelling for two entire months. She, her family and that ghastly sister of hers, Petunia, who looked more like a withered flower than a young girl, according to Severus. There had been no laughs on the playground this summer, no making homework together, no fiery red hair to catch the sunrays and reflect them in his eyes. He sighed once more, closed the curtains and started undoing his trainers, when he heard an almighty crash and a scream.

He was on his feet instantly, clutching his wand steadily in his right hand, listening intently, but he could only make out the frantic beating of his own heart. He opened his door by a crack and listened quietly; he could now hear muffled voices coming from downstairs. Severus crept along the dark corridor and down the stairs, pausing once more to listen, just outside the door. He crouched low and ,when his eye was level with the keyhole, peered through it, his fingers still securely grasping his wand. He almost had a full view of the tiny sitting room, with its walls completely covered in old dusty books and the tiny hearth cold and deprived of wood. Severus could also make out the couch, on which sat a woman, seemingly hiding behind her curtain of long black hair.

"I told you I don't want that in this house," snarled a voice coming from Severus's left.

"I-I just wanted to mend," stammered the woman on the couch.

"Mend, mend!" roared the man, now coming into Severus's view. He was a tall, thin man with black unkempt hair, a hooked nose and very large hands. He picked up an ashtray with his right hand, holding a cigarette in the left and sent it flying across the room. The ashtray hit the door and smashed into a thousand pieces. Severus tightened the grip on his wand.

"There, something you can pick up with your hands now," Tobias Snape spat at his wife. "Pick it up!" he roared when the woman didn't move.

He took two long strides and grabbed a fistful of her hair with his right hand, jerking her head up. The door burst open with a bang and Severus stood on the threshold, pointing his wand at his father's chest and shaking slightly. Tobias looked disconcerted for a while, but , quick as a flash, he had knocked Severus in the bookshelves, pressing his windpipe shut with his strong hands. Severus tried grabbing his father's hand, scratched them hopelessly with his nails, but this merely caused Tobias to increase pressure. He couldn't breathe, his eyes rolled back in his head and his fingers let his wand drop to the floor with a small thud.

"There will be no magic in this house, boy," whispered Tobias maliciously. The smell of his drunken breath would have made Severus want to gag, if he hadn't already been choking.

"No," whispered another voice, and Severus could just make out another hand, smaller and paler, scratching at his father's. Tobias let out a derisive laugh and smacked Eileen Snape to the floor with the back of his hand.

"You're not worth it, you and your filthy son!" He spat on the floor and released his grip on Severus, who smashed to the ground semi-consciously, his shoulder colliding painfully with the coffee table. The sound of boots on the floor, the smacking of a door, and then silence, apart from Severus's ragged breathing and Eileen's dry sobs. Severus stood up, clutching his right shoulder painfully and picking up his wand.

"Reparo," he muttered pointing his wand at the ashtray. The pieces flew together instantly, mending themselves. He then pointed his wand at the shattered remains of a whiskey bottle, which his mother had obviously wanted to mend, trying to please her husband. Severus gritted his teeth and stooped to pick up his mother. At his touch she looked up and drew her arm away from him.

"You shouldn't have done that." Her voice was a mere whisper, but carried enough for Severus to catch the reproachful tone her tone. Something snapped inside him, as hot white anger was bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

"Fine!" he snapped. "Next time, let him beat you to a pulp, that's what you like, isn't it?"

It happened in a flash, Eileen Prince had whipped out her wand and blasted Severus off his feet with an Impediment Jinx. She stood shaking, her face paler than ever, her knuckles white from the strength she was using to hold her wand and her dark eyes ablaze with new fury. Severus got up, turned around and ran up the stairs, taking steps two at a time. In his room he slammed shut the lid to his trunk, pulled a black sweater over his head, grabbed the handle of his trunk and thundered down the stairs with it, heading straight for the front door without a backwards glance. His breath was coming out in short painful gasps and he could still feel the imprint of his father's fingers on his throat. He walked as fast as he could, along Spinner's End, his wand concealed in his sleeve, but ready for immediate use.

Once he had put enough distance between Spinner's End an himself he stopped, sat down on his trunk and rummaged in his jeans' pocket. He took out a couple of ten-pound notes he'd 'taken' from his father's wallet the day before. He'd burned a few of them, just for the pleasure of seeing fire destroy and consume it, but now he was glad he had kept some. He would need it to get to King's Cross in London. Severus had no idea what time it was, probably past midnight, the bus wouldn't be coming anymore, he would have to find another way. For a fleeting instant he thought of going to Lily's, but no, this wasn't how he wanted to meet her after her long absence. No, not by turning up on her doorstep looking shaken and helpless. She would pity him, he didn't want that, he didn't need pity, he was a wizard for god's sake, he could take care of himself. No, he would see her on the Hogwarts Express, in his school robes, not in his worthless Muggle clothes. He looked down at himself in disgust.

He decided to go to the fancier part of town and get one of them taxi's, it was only his father's money anyway. He walked over an hour before reaching the thriving, throbbing part of the industrial city. He walked quickly, careful not to look anyone in the eye and ignoring the whispers following him. He must look odd, he thought, a teenage boy running around alone in the middle of the night, dragging a gigantic trunk in his wake. Soon enough he saw a taxi-stand and got into the one first in line. The cabdriver looked around lazily as he first saw a gigantic trunk entering his cab and then this pale, seemingly dirty teenager.

"Got money kid?" he asked after having observed Severus for a while. " 'Cause I ain't exactly a charity case you know." He stared some more at this odd boy, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve. Severus recoiled slightly.

"Yes," Severus snarled, showing the man the Muggle money.

"Where to?"

"King's Cross in London." The cabdriver turned the key in the ignition and the engine gave a loud rumble as he jerked the steering wheel and set off in the night.

*******

Severus Snape was sitting on his trunk, his back resting against the wall between platforms nine and ten of Kings Cross Station. His mouth was slightly open and he was slumped forwards, a curtain of greasy hair hiding his face. He was muttering in his sleep, his hand twitching slightly in his pocket. Suddenly there was a loud bang and he awoke with a start, his wand in his hands.

Two old Muggle ladies appeared to have crashed their trolley's and were now bickering loudly over who was to blame. He quickly pocketed his wand and turned around to peer at the clock. Eight o'clock. Still three hours to go before he would be on his way to Hogwarts. He sighed and stretched, thinking about what he was going to do for the next three hours. A loud noise and a hollow feeling in his stomach told him he was hungry. He rummaged in his pocket for the Muggle money and thought he must have enough left to purchase some food, even though the cabdriver had tried to take all of it, convinced Severus's clumsiness with the Muggle money made him a foreigner. He dragged his trunk away from platforms nine and ten, towards the station's buffet.

He peered at the glass counter, which was richly garnished with various types of sandwiches, muffins and even the odd croissant. Having never been allowed to handle Muggle money by his father and never having had any of his own, he frowned as he looked at the price tags, trying to assess how much money was in his pocket and what it could be exchanged for. He took out his change and started counting it in the palm of his hand, when a plump lady in a grayish apron moved towards him with a kind smile.

"What will it be dearie?"

Severus jumped slightly and dropped some coins, which he hastily picked up, his pale cheeks considerably flushed. The woman was wearing a hairnet over her brown curls and from her hears hung long earrings, from which several fake gems were missing. There was some lipstick on her teeth and the red on her nails was chipped. Nonetheless she smiled warmly at this odd boy, obviously an exchange student or something like that.

"Haven't decided yet?" she asked, gesturing him towards the till. Severus complied somewhat jerkily, the coins still feeling cool in his hand. "Let's see what you've got there."

She started counting the money in his hand. When she happened to brush his skin with the tips of her fingers he jerked his hand back. Feeling ashamed he put all the coins on the counter and stared at his feet. He just wanted some food. She frowned at him and put the money in the till, handing him a turkey sandwich without another word. He quickly turned around, dragging his trunk behind him, clutching the sandwich tightly in his fist, squashing it slightly. He found a quiet and concealed corner, near platforms nine and ten to eat his sandwich. He wolfed it down quickly, feeling rather vulnerable to be seen eating like this, like some outcast, like some transient. His hunger a little less ravenous, he fell asleep once more.

***

Severus awoke with a start at the noise of many footsteps, excited chattering, rattling trolley's and screeching owls. He jumped to his feet, grabbed the handle of his trunk and crept out of his corner, the clock told him it was a quarter to eleven. A jolt of excitement shot through him, giving his cheeks a more healthy color and the flicker of a smile on his thin lips. He started walking more quickly towards platforms nine and ten, his excitement growing as he sped up and passed most of the merry wizarding party, responsible for the noise that had awoken him. Soon enough he was on the platforms, looking excitedly at the barrier through which young witches and wizards, accompanied by their parents, were disappearing. There were so many clusters of people on the platforms, that the guard was eyeing them suspiciously, as if fearing some kind of cult involving owls and large trunks.

Severus saw a man pointing his wand at the guard from underneath his cloak, and the man's face become instantly relaxed as his eyes adopted a rather blank. He heard the Ministry Official muttering to a concerned parent "Second time I've had to Obliviate him, he's real trouble that one."

Finally it was Severus's turn to cross the barrier. He dragged his trunk and stepped right at the barrier between both platforms, disappearing from the Muggle world.


End file.
